Angel Beats
Angel Beats! is a Japanese media franchise, centered on a 13-episode anime television series produced by P.A. Works and Aniplex and directed by Seiji Kishi. The story was originally conceived by Jun Maeda, who also wrote the screenplay, with original character design by Na-Ga; both Maeda and Na-Ga are from the visual novel brand Key known for producing such titles as Kanon, Air, and Clannad. Key is working in collaboration with ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's Magazine to produce the project. The series began airing in Japan on April 3, 2010. Two manga series and a series of illustrated short stories based on Maeda's original concept are serialized in Dengeki G's Magazine. An English dub was co-produced by Urban Vision Entertainment and WNET New York. Plot Angel Beats! takes place at a high school acting as a Purgatory, where students learn to give up any lingering attachments they still have from life before continuing to an afterlife or reincarnation. While the injury or cause of death are gone, those in the afterlife school can still feel pain or other things as they did when they were alive, as well as dying again, only to awaken with no injures several minutes later. The story follows the main protagonist Otonashi, a boy who lost his memories of his life after dying. Upon awakening in the afterlife, he meets a girl named Yuri who invites him to join the , an organization she founded and leads which fights against God for the cruel fates the SSS members experienced in life. Their only enemy in the world is the school's student council president Angel, a being with supernatural powers who is in charge of keeping the status quo and fights against the SSS. Yuri believes that anyone who follows Angel's orders and behaves like a normal student at the school will eventually disappear and pass on to Heaven. However, those who fulfill their dreams in the afterlife will pass on as well. In the SSS, there are two sub-divisions which help in the SSS's operations against Angel. The first is a four-girl band named Girls Dead Monster whose objective in the SSS is to cause a diversion from other activities the SSS is engaged in, while on the surface appearing to be a normal all female band. This includes distracting Angel and a large number of "normal" students and teachers at the school Yuri deems "non-player characters" as they are not human, but look and act the part. Another organization in the SSS is the Guild, located far below the surface of the afterlife world, which serves to supply the weapons the SSS uses against Angel. Anyone in the afterlife is able to create anything out of dirt that they had memories of in life, and the Guild uses this ability to mass produce weapons. Angel uses a similar ability to create her supernatural powers, with the aid of a computer program called Angel Player. Characters Main characters ; : : Otonashi is the main protagonist of Angel Beats!. After dying, he lost his memories of the time when he was still alive, but later regains them through the hypnotic powers of Naoi. In life, Otonashi did poorly in school and lived only for his bedridden sister }}. After she died, due to him sneaking her out of the hospital to celebrate Christmas, he turned his life around and studied harder with the aim of becoming a doctor. He died from the injuries he sustained after the train he took to his college entrance exams crashed, seconds from being rescued alongside most of the other survivors. :Due to his past, he has a caring personality and does not want anyone to experience pain or sadness. He becomes involved with the SSS and their fight against God after Yuri invites him to join them. At first, he does not want to stay with the SSS, but joins them for his own safety against Angel. He originally wants to stay in the team until he regains his memories, but after learning about his past, he vows to stay on. After coming to understand Angel, he starts working on helping his friends pass on. Initially unskilled in any equipment, he starts to practice his marksmanship, and pulls through for the team when they are in danger. He carries a Glock 17 which Yuri gives him in Episode 1. ; : : Yuri, also known as , is a purple-haired girl with a determined personality who invites Otonashi to join the SSS— — an organization she founded and leads which fights against God. She is smart and decisive when making operations and decisions. She carries a silver Beretta 92. Not only is she skilled with a gun, but she is also capable in close range hand-to-hand combat. :When she was alive, her three younger siblings were murdered by a group of home invaders, leaving her the sole survivor. From this act of injustice, she became angry with God and vowed to fight against this cruel fate. When prompted by Otonashi, Yuri claims she did not commit suicide, stating that anyone who did so will not enter the afterlife school. ; : : Angel is a silver-haired girl who is the student council president at the afterlife school. This places her at odds with the SSS as her responsibilities require her to suppress delinquency and other disruptive activities that the team does. The SSS initially calls her "Angel" since they do not know her real name, but they still refer to her by it even after finding out her real name to be Kanade Tachibana. It is difficult to understand what she is thinking due to her rarely showing any outward emotions. Angel's life is one of solitude because any soul who befriends her will eventually disappear after living a fulfilling school life. She does not have any friends until Otonashi befriends and invites her to participate with the rest of the SSS. :She defends herself with supernatural abilities known as "Guard Skills". The primary one that she uses is called "Hand Sonic", a blade on one or both forearms that is capable of changing into five different forms. Other skills include but are not limited to: "Distortion", an invisible barrier that deflects bullets or other projectiles away; "Delay", which creates an after-image to disorientate an enemy in close range; and "Harmonics", where a clone with a consciousness of its own is formed from the original. These abilities are activated by voicing their name; however, others like "Overdrive", which gives her great physical strength, are passive and are always on. She creates all of her abilities by herself, just like how the SSS produce weapons, instead of receiving them from God as Yuri originally believes. :Despite her gentle demeanor and tiny frame, she is incredibly powerful and near indestructible to the point of ejecting bullets out of her wounds during battle. She has an affinity for eating mapo doufu, a spicy dish which has such an effect on her that she even once disobeys school regulations to be treated by Otonashi. She is personally dedicated to helping others overcome their regrets and grudges and pass on to whatever lies after this world. SSS members ; : : Hinata is a blue-haired boy with a bright, dependable personality and is the closest to Otonashi. He will always try to save his comrades if he can and is a reliable force in the team. In life, he once missed a fly ball during an important baseball game, and received drugs after the game to curb his depression. He died after getting hit by a truck. He and Yui constantly irritate one another on a daily basis, but deep down, he cares for Yui, as shown when he helps her pass on by telling her that in life he would marry her even if she was paralyzed. Not only does he agree with Otonashi's plans to have all of their friends come to terms with their previous lives and pass on, but is also willing to help. He is a talented baseball player. ; : : Takamatsu is an honor student at the afterlife school who has a polite personality and wears glasses. He mainly contributes to the SSS through intelligence gathering and other affairs, but does not actively go out and fight. Yuri herself says to not be fooled by his glasses and that he is actually an idiot. Though appearing to be slender, he works out and is actually well-built muscle-wise. After he first reveals this, he tends to take his shirt off, much to everyone's discomfort. In Episode 11, he is turned into an NPC by the shadows. ; : : Noda is a self-reliant boy who executes the strategies formed by the SSS and fights with a halberd. He does not listen to anyone other than Yuri, for whom he has adoration, and is antagonistic to almost everyone else. He has a one-sided rivalry with Otonashi. He is a complete idiot whose weakness is education. He is not afraid to harm or kill anyone who gets in Yuri's way. ; : : Shiina is a female ninja who fights with dual-wielding kodachi and shuriken. She is able to sense when danger is coming and is a highly capable fighter. Despite her strict demeanor, she has a weakness for cute things like stuffed animals. She is strict in her training and is very self-critical when she fails, especially to a newcomer like Otonashi. She rarely speaks but will normally remark that those around her are "shallow-minded" whenever the obvious or something stupid is said. ; : : Yusa is an operator in the SSS who conveys the state of the battlefield to Yuri. She is a calm and gentle mannered girl with a straightforward character. Much like Angel, she does not express her emotions and is called scary by Otonashi and Hinata. She cannot calm down without her earphone. She is often seen with Girls Dead Monster. She rarely talks, and she sometimes hurts others' feelings even though she does not mean it. She is not afraid of telling Yuri that her laugh makes her sound like a villain. ; : : Fujimaki is a delinquent who fights with a long shirasaya. He picks on new people like Otonashi but does not seem like a bad person himself. He cannot swim. ;TK : : TK is a mysterious character who wears a large bandanna over his eyes and tends to break out in dance every so often. No one knows his real name or past. He speaks in semi-nonsensical English phrases (mostly adapted from songs by TM Network and B'z with perfect pronunciation) depending on the situation, but apparently does not know English fluently. He saves the team many times and does know some Japanese but rarely speaks it, though he seems to understand what others say to him. ; : : Matsushita, also known as "Matsushita 5-dan", has a large build and is a master at judo. He never forgets a debt he owes, especially when it involves food (specifically gyūdon). He carries heavy weapons such as rocket launchers into battle. He later loses weight after training in the mountains. ; : : Ōyama is an ordinary boy who has no special talents. This means that he does not excel at anything, but is as capable as any normal person; in other words, he is a Jack of all trades. He is a pure boy whose feelings will get hurt from things like a making fake confession or watching his teammates "die". He carries a Remington 700 sniper rifle. ; : : Takeyama is an intelligent boy who is good at hacking computers. He wrote the "Briefing Manager" program that Yuri uses to brief the SSS prior to a mission. He insists everyone should call him by his username "Christ", though nobody cares about it. He tries to execute all plans as perfectly as possible. He does not engage in combat or any other physical operations. ; : : Chaa is the leader of Guild, an organization in the SSS which supplies the weapons the SSS uses. Despite looking much older, he is about the same age as Otonashi and the others attending the afterlife school. Guild makes the weapons out of mud, the parts based on its members' memories when they were alive; however, if they have never seen a weapon before nor know how it works, the weapon will fail and explode. In Episode 12, he passes on along with the majority of the SSS members. ; : : Naoi is a human originally thought to be a non-player character (non-human). After he died, Naoi developed hypnotic powers that allow him to control others and cause them to enter a dream-like state. In life, he replaced his older twin brother after the latter died in an accident and became his father's apprentice in pottery, but he was not as good at the craft as his brother had been. After his father became ill and died as well, Naoi got the impression that his entire life was fake. He later befriends Otonashi after he acknowledges him and joins the SSS. His hypnotic powers are useful in helping Otonashi recover his lost memories. As acting student council president for a time and self-proclaimed God, Naoi is strict and arrogant, but this is quick to disperse when Otonashi chastises him. He is affectionate to Otonashi, much to the latter's chagrin, and always tries to kiss up to him. Girls Dead Monster ; : , Marina (singing) : Iwasawa is the initial leader of Girls Dead Monster who is in charge of the vocals and is the rhythm guitarist. She also writes the lyrics and composes the music for the band's songs. She plays a Sienna Sunburst/Maple Fender Stratocaster guitar. While usually a quiet girl, she is able to fascinate listeners by striving to create music that speaks her thoughts. She used music as an escape from her constantly fighting parents. After she graduated from high school and left home, she suffered from a cerebral contusion, which resulted from a head injury she received when she once interfered in her parents fighting. Unable to either move or speak after the concussion, she spent the rest of her short life in a hospital bed. In Episode 3, she disappears after finding peace and passing on, and Yui takes her place as leader of the band. ; : : Hisako is second-in-command of Girls Dead Monster who plays a Fender Jazzmaster electric guitar as lead guitarist. She has a candid personality and likes to play mahjong, which she has incredible luck with. As noted by Hinata, Hisako is also athletic and is greatly admired by Yui for her guitar riffs. In Episode 12, she passes on along with the majority of the SSS members. ; : : Irie is the drummer of Girls Dead Monster who, despite being dead herself, is bad with hearing stories about ghosts or spirits, which Sekine likes to take advantage of. She is best friends with Sekine and joined Girls Dead Monster at the same time as her. In Episode 12, she passes on along with the majority of the SSS members. ; : : Sekine plays a G&L L-2000 bass guitar in Girls Dead Monster. She likes to play pranks on those around her to see the surprised faces of her victims. She also likes to abruptly improvise during performances, which makes Hisako get mad at her. In Episode 12, she passes on along with the majority of the SSS members. ; : , LiSA (singing) : Yui is a big fan and initially an assistant to Girls Dead Monster. She enjoys playing guitar and singing on the street. She is known to be hyperactive and talks extremely fast. Hinata finds Yui annoying, which results in bouts between the two of them. She wears a devil tail and shackle bracelets on her wrists, giving her an image of an imp or devil. She also has wings hidden by her hair on her back. After Iwasawa's departure, Yui becomes the new rhythm guitarist and vocalist of Girls Dead Monster, as well as its leader. Yui plays a Gibson SG Special electric guitar. She later becomes a part of the main SSS, following them along on missions. In life, she was paralyzed from the neck down after being hit by a car, which caused her to be bedridden. She wanted to do a lot of things in her life, such as performing a German suplex, playing soccer, and hitting a home run, inspirations she witnessed on television while bedridden and were left unfulfilled due to her paralysis. Her most important dream of all was to get married. This dream was fulfilled by Hinata, who stated that he would marry her even if she was paralyzed. She finds peace in Hinata's words and passes on in Episode 10. Production Creation and conception The original creators of Angel Beats!, Jun Maeda and Na-Ga of Key, were interviewed in the July 2009 issue of ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's Magazine. Around the time Key completed the first release of their sixth visual novel Little Busters!, Hironori Towa of Aniplex (himself a fan of Key's works) approached Maeda around October 2007 about collaborating to produce an original anime series. Maeda began meeting with Towa and Aniplex on a monthly basis and the story started to gradually progress. Aniplex wanted Maeda to write a screenplay that would be very "Key-like, with touching moments of laughter and tears," but initially Maeda found himself at a loss to write a story more amusing than Little Busters!, because he thought that he had reached a limit with Little Busters! in regards to a "Key-like story". However, one day Maeda was struck by inspiration, where he thought up the initial idea of a story set in the afterlife. Furthermore, with everyone already dead, Maeda conceived of flashy battles where the combatants go all out without fear of death. According to Maeda, the theme of the series is "life", which in Angel Beats! is depicted as a precious and wonderful thing, despite the characters in Angel Beats! who fight against their fate. Maeda nominated Na-Ga to began work on the character designs near the beginning of 2008. Na-Ga was worried that other computer graphics (CG) work for Key would get delayed, but he took the position because of his accumulated experience in CG. Maeda nominated Na-Ga because of the popular characters he designed in Little Busters!, and because of his frankness. Na-Ga designed Yuri based on her personality as a leader, though it was per Maeda's request that he added the black headband, taken from the character Yukiko Amagi from Persona 4, who was Maeda's favorite heroine from that game. The length of Yuri's hair and the addition of a green ribbon were decided from production committee meetings. Angel's original concept began with the idea of a brave, fighting girl. Maeda cited that Angel's image had changed considerably over the development process and that originally she was similar to Shiki Ryōgi from Kara no Kyōkai. Eventually, Angel's concept changed to being a "silent and mysterious girl". Before Na-Ga decided on Otonashi's design, Maeda told him that anything would be fine and to just draw something, and eventually drew up a prototype for Otonashi and Hinata, among others. Some of the characters had vague initial conditions given by Maeda, such as asking Na-Ga to draw an "all female band bass guitarist" in the case of Girls Dead Monster member Sekine and particularly the cryptic "character who speaks in puzzling English phrases" for TK. Anime production The Aniplex producer of Angel Beats!, Hironori Towa, was interviewed in the November 2009 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine, where he commented that a 13-episode anime with about 21 minutes per episode was not enough to tell the whole story of Angel Beats! Maeda had envisioned. Therefore, the various additional media, such as the illustrated short stories and manga, contain some of the story that was unable to make it into the anime because of time constraints. Towa wanted fans of the series to be able to enjoy it to the fullest by exploring all of the media types. Maeda found it tiring to go back and forth between Osaka and Tokyo for business meetings when he was in the process of writing the script, and found it difficult to write an entire script by himself, since he had never done that before with any of the games he produced as a member of Key. It was only after the script was done that Maeda was able to work on the music, which he greatly enjoyed and never tired of it. Maeda composed about 15 songs for Girls Dead Monster and spent about two days each composing each song. He made sure to create songs for Girls Dead Monster that high school girls would compose, including the lyrics. Due to this, Maeda pointed out that the opening and ending theme songs for Angel Beats!, which Maeda also composed, sound like they were composed by a different person compared to the Girls Dead Monster songs. In regards to bringing in P.A. Works as the animation studio, Towa had taken notice of the company from back when they provided in-between animation and production assistance for Fullmetal Alchemist (2003–4) and Darker than Black (2007), respectively; Aniplex helped produce both series. After watching just the first three episodes of P.A. Works' True Tears (2008), however, he was shocked at the high quality and immediately went to P.A. Works' studio in Toyama Prefecture to meet with the production staff in the hope that one day Aniplex could collaborate with them on a project together. The following week, Maeda brought up the subject of deciding on an animation studio for Angel Beats! and mentioned that he too had seen True Tears and had become interested in P.A. Works. Shortly after that, Towa formally made the proposal to P.A. Works to animate the project. Maeda focused on making jokes an important part of Angel Beats!, leading Towa to seek out Seiji Kishi to be the director, because of his experience in directing and his pulling power influence on the staff of P.A. Works, where there are many that are still young. Kishi was ultimately approached by P.A. Works representative director Kenji Horikawa about working on a "school comedy written by a game scenario writer" and was shocked after taking the director's position to discover Maeda was the screenwriter. Kishi commented how, far from just being a comedy, the series contains many different aspects, including flashy action scenes, live musical performances, and drama. Kishi stated that normally he would be hard pressed to cover this range of aspects, but was motivated by Maeda's uncompromising attitude in regards to the script. The decision to add in the all female band Girls Dead Monster was due to Maeda's intent to add in many different and interesting elements into the series. Kishi specifically requested that sound and music director Satoki Iida work on the project, who also helped with the proofreading of the script due to Maeda's fixation on the music production. Iida was interviewed in the April 2010 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine, where it was stated that Maeda received Iida's approval to employ a minimalist approach to the background music (BGM) used throughout the anime. Iida admitted that it was uncustomary to use this music genre in anime and that he had to go through various trials and errors with Maeda to get the music right. Maeda strove to create individual quality music tracks, while Iida pursued the goal of having music that would be useful as BGM tracks, which caused problems during the creation process. Iida realized that it was important for the music and the visuals to combine together to create a synchronization between the two. Towa first took notice of Angel Beats! character designer and chief animator Katsuzō Hirata during the production of Gurren Lagann (2007) with his skill as an artist and ability to finish work quickly, but thoroughly. It was after Towa saw Hirata's work as chief animator of Strike Witches (2008), however, that he pursued Hirata to join the Angel Beats! staff; Maeda also gave his seal of approval for Hirata. Media Internet radio shows A four-episode Internet radio show to promote Angel Beats! called aired between May 30, 2009 and March 31, 2010. The show was hosted by Jun Maeda, though guests did make appearances, such as Hironori Toba, the producer for Angel Beats!, and Na-Ga. One month after each regular broadcast, an additional shorter broadcast called was released. Another Internet radio show to promote the series titled Angel Beats! SSS Radio had a pre-broadcast on March 18, 2010, and began regular weekly broadcasting on April 1, 2010. Produced by Hibiki Radio Station, the show is hosted by Harumi Sakurai (the voice of Yuri), Kana Hanazawa (the voice of Angel) and Eri Kitamura (the voice of Yui). The first volume of a CD compilation containing the first four broadcasts, as well as the pre-broadcast and brand new recorded material, will be sold on June 23, 2010. Books and publications A series of seven illustrated short stories written by Jun Maeda and drawn by GotoP entitled Angel Beats! Track Zero were serialized between the November 2009 and May 2010 issues of ASCII Media Works's Dengeki G's Magazine. The main character of the stories is Hinata, and is a prequel to Angel Beats!, which tells the story of how the SSS was formed. A special extra chapter focusing on Girls Dead Monster was published in the sixth volume of Dengeki G's Festival! Deluxe on March 29, 2010. The short stories will be collected into a bound volume to be released on June 23, 2010 and will include an additional chapter along with the other eight chapters. The chapter titles for the stories are taken from song titles from various musical artists. The first chapter, , was posted online with illustrations by ASCII Media Works. Manga A four-panel comic strip manga entitled began serialization in the December 2009 issue of ASCII Media Works' ''Dengeki G's Magazine. A two-page special chapter of the manga was printed in full color in the fifth volume of Dengeki G's Festival! Deluxe published on December 26, 2009. Another four-page special chapter in full color was printed in the sixth volume of Deluxe. The manga is inspired from Jun Maeda's original concept and is illustrated by Haruka Komowata. Komowata was also in charge of illustrating a manga which showcased the progress of the Angel Beats! project and was serialized between the September 2009 and June 2010 issues of Dengeki G's Magazine. Another manga titled Angel Beats! Heaven's Door, illustrated by Yuriko Asami, began serialization in Dengeki G's Magazine in the May 2010 issue. Heaven's Door is based on the Angel Beats! Track Zero short stories. Anime The 13-episode Angel Beats! anime TV series directed by Seiji Kishi and produced by P.A. Works and Aniplex began airing in Japan on April 3, 2010 on the CBC television network. The first episode was previewed on March 22, 2010 to a selected number of people who participated in a lottery held that earlier that month. The screenplay is written by Jun Maeda, who originally conceived the series. Chief animator Katsuzō Hirata bases the character design used in the anime on Na-Ga's original designs. Sound and music direction is headed by Satoki Iida. The eyecatches used in the series feature the series logo on a white background with the note middle A played a single time. The first BD/DVD compilation volume containing the first two episodes will be released on June 23, 2010 in limited and regular editions; the limited edition will come bundled with a drama CD written by Maeda and performed by the anime's cast. The second and third BD/DVD volumes will be released on July 21 and August 25, 2010. Another drama CD will be bundled with the limited edition of the fourth BD/DVD volume to be released on September 22, 2010. The fifth and sixth BD/DVD volumes will be released on October 27 and November 24, 2010; a third drama CD will be bundled with the limited edition of the sixth BD/DVD volume. The English dub was produced by Urban Vision Entertainment in association with WNET New York. Two versions were released: a standard VHS, DVD, and BD release by Urban Vision and a 1990-style Betamax release by Buena Vista Home Video, which uses the 1984 Disney warnings, the 1990 Buena Vista Home Video logo, a promo for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, late '80s-style funding credits, the 1988 WNET logo, the 1989 PBS logo, and the 1989 Streamline Pictures logo (because someone had to dub the series, and Streamline is considered by many to be the spiritual predescesor to Urban Vision). Music The music used in the anime is composed by Maeda and arranged by the group Anant-Garde Eyes. The music is released on Key's record label Key Sounds Label. The opening theme is "My Soul, Your Beats!" sung by Lia and the ending theme is "Brave Song" sung by Aoi Tada. The single containing both songs titled "My Soul, Your Beats!/Brave Song" was released on May 26, 2010 in limited (CD+DVD) and regular (CD) editions; the limited edition's DVD contains the opening and ending videos without the credits. The in-story band Girls Dead Monster is made up of the real-life singers Marina and LiSA. Three singles for Girls Dead Monster were released. The first, "Crow Song", on April 23, 2010; the second, "Thousand Enemies", followed on May 12, 2010; and the third, "Little Braver", on June 9, 2010. A Girls Dead Monster album titled ''Keep The Beats! will be sold on June 30, 2010. A version of Keep The Beats! containing instrumental tracks will be released on July 28, 2010 bundled with a 256-page band score book. The anime's original soundtrack will be released on July 28, 2010. Reception The sixth episode of Angel Beats!, which aired on May 8, 2010 on Osaka's MBS station in Japan, achieved a record 4.9% rating for an anime series broadcast during the late-night "Anime Shower" timeslot in the past three years. 6th Episode Earns Record 4.9% in Osaka|publisher=Anime News Network|date=May 10, 2010|accessdate=May 11, 2010}} The opening and ending theme song single "My Soul, Your Beats!/Brave Song" debuted at # 3 on Japan's Oricon weekly singles chart, selling about 80,000 copies in its first week of sales. "My Soul, Your Beats!/Brave Song" was awarded a Gold disc by the Recording Industry Association of Japan in May 2010 for selling over 100,000 copies. Girls Dead Monster's single "Crow Song" debuted at # 7 on the Oricon singles chart, selling approximately 16,400 copies in about four days. "Crow Song" sold over 25,000 more copies over the next three weeks after its release. The Girls Dead Monster single "Thousand Enemies" debuted at # 4 on the Oricon singles chart, selling about 28,000 copies in its first week of sales. "Thousand Enemies" sold over 18,000 more copies over the next two weeks after its release. Girls Dead Monster's third single "Little Braver" debuted at # 2 on the Oricon singles chart, selling about 38,800 copies in its first week of sales. References External links *[http://www.angelbeats.jp/ Angel Beats! official website] *[http://key.visualarts.gr.jp/angelbeats/ Angel Beats!] at Key Category:Action anime and manga Category:Anime of 2010 Category:Anime with original screenplays Category:Comedy-drama anime and manga Category:Dengeki G's Magazine Category:Fantasy anime and manga Category:Key (company) Category:Manga of 2009 Category:Manga of 2010 Category:School anime and manga Category:Seinen manga